Sun-Spots Digest, v6n129

William LeFebvre Sun-Spots-Request at RICE.EDU
Wed Jul 6 11:27:36 AEST 1988


SUN-SPOTS DIGEST           Tuesday, 5 July 1988       Volume 6 : Issue 129

Today's Topics:
                     Re: OCLI filter for Mono monitor
                       Re: partitioning whole disk
                            Exec format error
                   Looking for OCR-A font for X-Windows
                     SunOS 4.0 + TrailBlazer problem
                        spurious level 3 interrupt
                  info-request: thin-ethernet repeaters
                 Looking for NeWS interface for GNU Emacs
               Questions about dumps to remote tape drives
                        MacPaint/Draw=>SunRaster?
                       Enlargening disk partitions?
                           Sun 3/50 SCSI Disks?
                           Hypertext for Suns?
                 file `which foo` fails on 3.4/3.5, why?

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----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date:    Wed, 22 Jun 88 10:35:59 PDT
From:    filbert!gene at sun.com (Gene Banman)
Subject: Re: OCLI filter for Mono monitor

> My salesman said he thought the OCLI filters
> were probably the filter plus some electronics to brighten the display to
> maintain the picture brightness.  Does anyone know for sure if this is
> true?

Well, the electronics are the same with or without the OCLI coating.  All
filters will reduce the amount of light transmitted to some degree.
However, the advantage of an OCLI filter is that it is bonded to the glass
of the monitor thus giving fewer air-glass transitions and thus more light
is transmitted.  An OCLI filter will transmit about 80% of the light.  The
add-on filters transmit about 50% - 70% of the light. An OCLI filter does
nothing to reduce radiation (if any).  

OCLI stands for Optical Coating Labs Inc..  It is a company which actually
bonds the coating to the monitor before it is shipped to Sun.

The 19" color monitors come with the OCLI coating standard.  

Gene Banman
Sun Sales (Apply the appropriate grain of salt)

------------------------------

Date:    Wed, 22 Jun 88 18:37:50 PDT
From:    eggert at sm.unisys.com (Paul Eggert)
Subject: Re: partitioning whole disk
Reference: v6n120

stpstn!aad at ames.arc.nasa.gov (Anthony A. Datri) asks whether under SunOS
4.0 he can have just one big /usr partition, hoping that "diskless
clients' areas become part of the filesystem, so separate partitions for
them aren't needed anymore."  Sorry, probably not.  Quoting exports(5):

   WARNING
	You cannot export either a parent directory or a subdirectory of an
	exported directory that is within the same filesystem.

You'll probably want to export /usr, so you'll have to put the diskless
clients' areas on a different partition.  That's why Sun recommends an
/export partition.  Like Datri, I had expected SunOS 4.0 to help minimize
the repartitioning hassle that occurs when you add one more diskless
client than you had planned for when you setup the server.  No such luck.

------------------------------

Date:    Wed, 22 Jun 88 17:39:55 MDT
From:    dieter at titan.nmt.edu
Subject: Exec format error

> Cannot execute binary file.
> touchup: Exec format error

Although this probably isn't what you're running into (I'm not familiar
with touchup), I did notice that I would get that error message from
improperly-formatted shell scripts.  To wit,

	#\!/bin/csh -f
	script stuff

gives that error message.  (There's a long story about how we got scripts
that started that way, you really don't want to know.)  I suspect that
execve (which Sun has hacked to understand #!) thinks that #\ is a valid
enough magic number to try to run it, but there's not a struct a.out
there, so life becomes bad.

Dieter (Surveys can be time-consuming) Muller
Welcome to the island.  You are number six.
...cmcl2!lanl!unm-la!unmvax!nmtsun!dieter
dieter%nmt at relay.cs.net                    <-- most likely to succeed
dieter at nmtsun.nmt.edu

[[ SUN did not hack execve to understand "#!". I am almost completely
positive that it existed in 4.1BSD.  So I believe that it was hacked in by
Berkeley.  It may be a hack, but it is incredibly useful.  --wnl ]]

------------------------------

Date:    Wed, 22 Jun 88 14:12:15 PDT
From:    Rich Wales <wales at cs.ucla.edu>
Subject: Looking for OCR-A font for X-Windows

Does anyone know where I can find an X-Windows (either V10 or V11) OCR-A
font?  (OCR-A is a machine-readable font, kind of similar to the
magnetic-ink printing on checks.)

Alternatively, does anyone know of a bit-mapped, machine-readable OCR-A
which I could convert into an X-Windows form?

If possible, I'd like something with a minimum of "strings attached".  (Is
"OCR-A" patented or copyrighted?  If so, by whom?)

-- Rich Wales // UCLA Computer Science Department // +1 (213) 825-5683
   3531 Boelter Hall // Los Angeles, California 90024-1596 // USA
   wales at CS.UCLA.EDU      ...!(uunet,ucbvax,rutgers)!cs.ucla.edu!wales

[[ There is a Metafont description for OCR-A.  It was made available
through TeXHax a while ago and I still might have it lying around
somewhere.  Don't know if that will help you or not.  --wnl ]]

------------------------------

Date:    Wed, 22 Jun 88 16:16:35 -0400
From:    fed!arcfs1!m1rcd00 at uunet.uu.net
Subject: SunOS 4.0 + TrailBlazer problem

Upon reading about this problem in V6n118, I immediatly called USA-4SUN
and referenced # 1010898. They called back saying that they had a patch
and would e-mail it to me. I will report any further problems.

Bob Drzyzgula,
Federal Reserve Board, Washington, DC, 20551; uunet!fed!rcd

------------------------------

Date:    23 Jun 88 03:29:37 GMT
From:    mkkam at wael.cs.uh.edu (Francis Kam)
Subject: spurious level 3 interrupt

We have a Sun 3/260 as a server machine for a couple of 3/50's running
Rel. 3.5.  On the console, we keep getting messages like 
   spurious level 3 interrupt
   ie1: spurious interrupt
Have anyone got this kind of messages before?  Please give some hints on
what's happening.  Thank you.

Francis Kam                           Computer Science Department
Internet: mkkam at wael.cs.uh.edu        University of Houston
CSNET:    mkkam at houston.csnet         4800 Calhoun
Phone: (713)749-1748                  Houston, TX 77004.

[[ Another candidate for the "most asked sun-spots questions".  It was
discussed in volume 6 issues 10, 15, 19, and 26.  The cause could be one
of several things.  One person said that it was because the machine's
backplane revision number was not compatible with the CPU board revision
number.  Another recommended checking the drivers configured for level 3
interrupts against the jumper settings in all the boards in your machine
to make sure that they match.  A third said he saw it on a machine with a
second Ethernet controller and was told that there was no fix for that
situation.  Past digest issues are archived on "titan.rice.edu" and are
also available through the archive server.  --wnl ]]

------------------------------

Date:    Wed, 22 Jun 88 10:44:30 EDT
From:    andover!nexus!ane at swan.ulowell.edu (Anestis Panidis Ext. 324)
Subject: info-request: thin-ethernet repeaters

we are currently seeking a solution to our over-extended thinnet ethernet
cable. we are looking for a multiport repeater, and so far we found one by
Cabletron Systems( MR-9000C ) a company out of new hampshire.  If anyone
has such a setup, has used this box or any other better solution , Please
let me know

thanks in advance,
Anestis at Andover Controls, Andover Ma. ( 617 ) 470 - 0555 x324

..!ulowell!andover!ane

------------------------------

Date:    Wed, 22 Jun 88 10:58:55 EDT
From:    petsche at axon.siemens.com (Thomas Petsche)
Subject: Looking for NeWS interface for GNU Emacs

In short, how do I get the files I need to recompile GNU Emacs so that it
can run in a NeWS window? 

In `~NeWS/clientsrc/client' there is a subdirectory called `emacs' that
contains two parts (TrmPS.c and TrmPS.cps) of a terminal interface for
emacs running under NeWS.  Unfortunately, these are not enough to
recompile Emacs (at least version 18.51).  There was some mention of this
interface on the net a while ago, to the effect that the NeWS interface
would not be included in the standard GNU Emacs distribution.

Thanks.

Thomas Petsche
petsche at siemens.com
petsche at tiger.princeton.edu

------------------------------

Date:    Wed, 22 Jun 88 11:18:24 EDT
From:    ames!rochester!srs!matt at sally.utexas.edu
Subject: Questions about dumps to remote tape drives

Since we recently purchased one of those 8mm tape drives, I figured I
would stop using the ten 1/2" reels it took to do a level 0 backup and
switch to using one little 8mm cassette (about the size of a cassette
tape).  The problem is that we don't have a SCSI board for our server so
the 8mm drive is hooked up to a 3/60 client.  Now, I knew that dumps over
the network were slow...but...geez.  I'm doing the standard:

    /etc/dump 0fudsb remote:/dev/nrsmt0 1600 90000 126 /dev/fs

I've thought of trying things like:

    /etc/dump 0fudsb - 1600 90000 126 /dev/fs | remote dd of=/dev/nrsmt0
	conv=block bs=126b

Has anyone played around with getting better throughput on remote dumps?

Also, I'm a bit confused by the following entry in "man dump":

    b factor
	Blocking factor.  Specifies  the  blocking  factor  for
	tape writes.  The default is 10 blocks per write.  Note
	that a tape block is 1024 bytes in size, or  twice  the
	size  of  a  disk  block.   The highest blocking factor
	available with some 6250bpi tape drives is 126.

Does this mean that a blocking factor of 10 is 10Kb or 5Kb (i.e.  are the
units tape blocks or disk blocks?).  I assume the latter since that is
what every other utility uses.

P.S. (yes, I still use the 1/2" tape to do level 0 dumps of the
      root, /usr and nd partitions -- in case anyone noticed the
      faux pas there)


uucp:		{rutgers,ames}!rochester!srs!matt OR matt at srs.uucp
notta-net:	matt%srs.uucp at harvard.harvard.edu	Matt Goheen


------------------------------

Date:    22 Jun 88 19:09:03 GMT
From:    esosun!kobryn at seismo.css.gov (Cris Kobryn)
Subject: MacPaint/Draw=>SunRaster?

We need to convert MacPaint (or MacDraw) formatted bitmaps to Sun raster
files.  Any information regarding available utilities to accomplish this
would be appreciated.

-- Cris Kobryn

[[ We've got something lying around that does that.  I'll try to dig it up
next week.  --wnl ]]

------------------------------

Date:    Wed, 22 Jun 88 15:37:26 EDT
From:    John T. Nelson <jtn at potomac.ads.com>
Subject: Enlargening disk partitions?

After loading Sun OS 4.0 onto my Sun III/160 I find that I have too little
space on /usr to do anything significant.  With all the files from the
distribution tape loaded, I am taking up 109% of the partition and that's
after removing games and demos.

Clearly the partition table used by suninstall was off by a bit when it
reserved only 55 meg for /usr and 100+ meg for /h.

I would like to enlargen this partition.  Can I do so without having to
reformat the disk and reload all of the software all over again?

------------------------------

Date:    22 Jun 88 15:13:59 GMT
From:    The News System <mcvax!euroies!tmurphy at uunet.uu.net>
Subject: Sun 3/50 SCSI Disks?

I am looking for information on 3rd Party SCSI disks which may be
connected to the SCSI bus on the Back of a Sun 3/50. We are looking for
fairly large drives 300Mb+. I have heard that CDC Wren Drives are
compatible with the Sun SCSI drivers. I would very much like to hear from
anybody who has successfully interfaced any large third party disk to the
3/50 and how reliable this has been. In particular I would like to know:
Has anybody successfully used any of the following large SCSI drives:

	a) Fujitsu M2246 5.25 171Mb
	   Fujitsu M2249 5.25 389Mb
	b) Hitachi DK522 -or-
		   DK514-38 382Mb
	c) CDC's new 550Mb drives or the
		Sabre 8in drive series (up to 1230Mb SCSI).

Rapid responses would be most appreciated. Mail can be sent to:
	...!uunet!mcvax!euroies!tmurphy -or-
	...!uunet!mcvax!cs.tcd.ie!amjudge

I will summarise any mailed responses to the net.  Thanks in advance for
any help/guidance.

Alan

------------------------------

Date:    Fri, 17 Jun 88 10:32:01 PDT
From:    nosun!cvedc!dawg!gam at sun.com (Gregory Miller)
Subject: Hypertext for Suns?

We have a *definite* need for an implmentation of Hypertext on the Sun
platforms (2s and 3s).  Does *anyone* know of such a product?

We are aware that the Roadrunner (386i) has a tool for building on line
documentation complete with Interleaf or Framemaker formatted pages and
hyper-links.  During an evaluation of the machine, we played with this
utility and were very interested in it.

Further investigation informs us that Frame Technology has incorporated
the ability to build hypertext-like documentation, but it is available
only on the 386i, and works *only* if you also have Frame's page layout
system.  We run Interleaf.

Some more research lead me to Owl International in Seattle, Wa.  I was
informed that Owl's product `Guide' was now available for the Sun
platforms.  Well, this turned out to be not quite true (I think).
Recently at a Macintosh User's Group meeting here in Portland, the
President of Owl, during a presentation on Guide, allegedly remarked that
Guide was running on the Sun.  When I spoke with their customer support,
and subseqeuntly a V.P., they both informed me this was *not* the case,
only the IBM PC-AT under Windows.

Back to the drawing board.  Next, I determined I had to go to the horse's
mouth, Professor Peter Brown at University of Kent, in England.  He being
one of the fathers of Hypertext implementations, I believe he has a
version running under UNIX. (It was from Brown's work that Owl's Guide
emerged).  Well, the problem is, I can't reach Brown.  Even calling at
6:00am, there is a ten hour difference, and I've run a phone bill on hold
only to learn he is (once again) not to be found.

Sooo, can *anybody* help us?

Our primary needs include the ability to create hyperlinks, dialog boxes,
and option menus (perhaps with radio buttons).  The scripting ability of
something like Hypercard would be neat and useful, but the linking ability
is the first criteria.  I suppose we could build something ourselves, but
we are free of the *not-invented-here* syndrome, and our time and money is
better spent buying than building in this case.

Any help is much appreciated.  Please respond to Sun-spots, or my E-mail
address.  Reading news is a luxury, but I do regularly receive a copy of
the Sun-spots digest.  In fact, if you have some immediate information,
feel free to phone.  Thanks :-)

Gregory Miller
Technical Staff
Computervision Electronics
Development Center
	A Division of Prime Computer Inc.
Beaverton, Oregon USA						503/645-2410

UUCP:	...!ogcvax!cvedc!dawg!gam
DOMAIN:	...gam at cvedc
INTERNET   gmiller at cvbnet.prime.com

------------------------------

Date:    22 Jun 88 23:25:36 GMT
From:    mkhaw at teknowledge-vaxc.arpa (Mike Khaw)
Subject: file `which foo` fails on 3.4/3.5, why?

Anyone know why, on SunOS 3.4 and 3.5, I get

	csh% file `which which`
	/usr/ucb/which:		No such file or directory
	csh% file /usr/ucb/which
	/usr/ucb/which: executable c-shell script

This works fine on SunOS 3.2, and the /usr/ucb/which files are identical
except for a comment about the Sun version number.

Thanks,
Mike Khaw

internet: mkhaw at teknowledge.arpa
uucp:	  {uunet|sun|ucbvax|decwrl|uw-beaver}!mkhaw%teknowledge-vaxc.arpa
hardcopy: Teknowledge Inc, 1850 Embarcadero Rd, POB 10119, Palo Alto, CA 94303

[[ Seems to work on our 3.5 machine.  --wnl ]]

------------------------------

End of SUN-Spots Digest
***********************



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